


The Strong Ones

by sassy_cat



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Quidditch, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-16
Updated: 2014-01-16
Packaged: 2018-01-08 23:14:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1138596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sassy_cat/pseuds/sassy_cat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Angelina has beaten every obstacle, chased down every dream. She's fought for years to keep Gryffindor on top, and some witch isn't going to cost her the Cup. Or where the Gryffindor girls save the day, but Weasley is the King.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Strong Ones

_"The most difficult thing is the decision to act._  
The rest is merely tenacity."  
~Amelia Earhart

 

 

 

"I can't take it anymore!" Angelina paced back and forth, talking as much to herself as Alicia.

"Umbridge can't suspend everyone," Alicia answered. She was trying to keep her tone calm, but she wasn't exactly happy either.

"Oh no," Angelina scoffed. "When she can't get the team disbanded, she just bans my players! What am I supposed to do? My first year as Captain! I'm the first female Captain for Gryffindor since Isobel McGonagall, and _this_ has to happen. Merlin, it's so unfair."

Alicia flipped the page on the latest edition of _Quidditch Witch_. The only safe reply was to nod her head and shrug her shoulders. When Angelina got like this, it was better to let her have her say. She wasn't going to listen to reason until she'd burnt off some, okay, a lot of anger.

"This is ridiculous! Bletchley hexes you so that your eyebrows are longer than your hair. Nothing happens.

"Warrington threatens Potter. Nothing!

"All of Slytherin House sing a bloody song about our Keeper _during the game_. Nothing!

"Malfoy taunts and taunts until those two idiots give him what he deserves… And they're banned! Banned for life!

"Then Fred too just because he _wanted_ to throttle Malfoy. All Malfoy gets is a pat on the head from Snape, and oh, let's not forget Crabbe, he throws a late Bludger and gets _lines_. Unbelievable!"

"Angelina, you're getting nowhere. We've heard this same rant for the last two weeks. We can't change what Umbridge did. We need to stop complaining and do something! Something like we're doing with the DA."

"I can't believe that Fred and George are just sitting back and taking this. I thought I could count–"

"Angelina, enough! For Merlin's sake, enough. Have you noticed that Katie hasn't been coming by or begging us to let her sleep in here instead of the sixth-year dorm? She can't take it anymore, Ange. I can't take it anymore.

Angelina pulled her hair up and tightly twisted her braids together before falling back onto her bed. All her anger drained away, and she whispered, "I'm sorry, Alicia. I just wanted to win so badly."

"Then win. Find a way to win in spite of Old Toady."

"But Potter—"

"Potter isn't the only person who can play Seeker. He's grand but he's been spending all his time in detention anyway. We'll find someone else who can be just as grand. Yeah?"

"Yeah. You're right. You're always right." She rolled onto her side to face her friend. "Alicia, do you think they attacked Malfoy because they didn't respect me enough?"

"Ange, they would have done it with Wood on the field. They were just being hot-headed idiots. It wasn't about you. I promise. We won the match, and we held Fred back. You did your job better than anyone else could have."

Angelina smiled and looked happy for the first time in days. "Alicia, you're the best mate I've ever had."

"Too right, luv." Alicia grinned. "Now, how are we gonna keep the Cup?"

 

~

 

Katie ran her quill over her lips three times before meeting Angelina's eyes. "Ginny's not a bad pick for Seeker. I think we got lucky there. But the Beaters…" She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. "Sloper is even worse than Kirke – still we need them," she sighed. "We'll just have to play harder, be stronger to make up for them."

Angelina nodded. It was what she thought too. "Agreed. We also have to get Ron comfortable playing in front of a crowd. How a Weasley can be so self-conscious, I'll never guess."

"Maybe Fred and George pranked the confidence right out of him," Katie offered.

"Ha! That's probably the truth of it," Alicia chimed in, "and we have to convince everyone to practice when we can finally get onto the pitch. I can't believe that Snape is allowed to claim it so much! The Slytherins just want to linger and heckle us during practices."

Angelina massaged the back of her neck, trying to work out invisible knots. "We have so much work to do, but hey, I talked to Fred and he's going to help us get a bit of revenge on Old Toady."

Katie and Alicia leaned forward, suddenly very interested in what Angelina was going to say. "Don't get excited. He won't tell. Says we'll enjoy it more if it's a surprise. I asked George but he's pretending he doesn't know what's going to happen either. As if. Those two share a brain."

"I hope it's something embarrassing in the Great Hall, so everyone will see," Alicia whispered.

"I hope all those blasted decrees she's got nailed up fall on her head!"

"Katie, that's mean!" Angelina cried, tossing her pillow at Katie, but her laughter took the bite out of words. "Come on, we have another DA meeting tonight and I want to get there early. I heard Smith from Hufflepuff might not be allowed to play in the next match, something about too many P's. This is the last meeting before the Hols, and I want to see what he has to say. He's their best player, and we need all the help we can get."

Alicia slowly pulled her robe on over her pyjamas. Angelina wanted to tell her it was bad form not to change back into her uniform, but she knew Alicia was sore from practice. Heck, she was sore too. There were so many battles to fight this year, and this one didn't seem worth the bother. "Angelina," Alicia asked, "how did you persuade Fred to help? The last time we asked, didn't he say he had better things to do?"

Angelina giggled, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "It was easy. I just told him that I fancy George because he has the best ideas for pranks. You know how competitive Fred is… always wanting to be the _creative_ one."

"Is it true?" Katie asked.

"Is what true?"

"That, you know … that you fancy George."

"Well, maybe, but I said it cos Fred was being an arse. Now, he's going to be a useful arse. And that'll be something new for him, that's for certain."

Katie and Alicia exploded in a fit of giggles as they stumbled down the stairs from the dormitory. When they reached the common room and spotted Fred, Angelina gave him a smug smile before calling out, "Oi, Fred! They agree with me, by the way. Seems all the girls think so."

At the look of outrage on his face, both girls fell over laughing again. Just as the portrait door was closing, they could hear George asking, "What was that about?"

 

~

 

After the Hufflepuff match, the girls realised they'd been right. Ginny was a decent Seeker. She caught the Snitch, but that was the only thing that went right against Hufflepuff. Umbridge sat in the stands and gloated while they struggled with the new Beaters, who were somehow playing worse than Ron, who didn't block a single Quaffle.

Angelina was lying on her bed, seething with fury and cradling her jaw. "My mouth bloody well hurts! Ron was practically having a kip out there. Did he block anything? Maybe his shadow," she grumbled. "But Sloper gets the prize for being both useless and dangerous. Morgana, help me! I don't want to see Slytherin win the Cup!"

Alicia and Katie shared a look. They really didn't want to spend another couple of weeks listening to Angelina's raging rants. Alicia spoke up first, "How about we take turns giving Weasley more practices? We can hit Quaffles at him until he's blocking them at night in his dreams. Eventually, that will have to cross over into play."

Katie nodded and looked over at Angelina who was now running her fingers over her front teeth. "I'd do it, and if you want, I'll even make the timetable. I think you've been right, Ange, not letting him resign. He needs to get over his insecurity. We've seen him block. He just has the worst case of fright that I've ever seen."

Angelina grimaced and gave a short nod. "We can work with Weasley. We've come this far. There's no reason to give up on him now. Sloper though, Sloper had better steer clear of me. I can think of several things I'd like to do with his bat now that he's finished smashing my face in.

Alicia sniggered. "Angelina, he's not that bad. It was an accident. Kirke was the one who fell off his broom!"

Angelina flipped over to face Alicia. "He knocked out _five_ of my teeth. If Katie hadn't been there to help pick them up, I don't know how long it would have taken Madam Pomfrey to set my mouth straight. Sloper is a right menace."

Knowing it was time to change the subject, Katie asked, "So is Fred making any progress on Operation Toady?"

Angelina sighed and sat up, leaning into her bed curtain. "He says it's in the works. Just in the preliminary stages… Apparently, it's going to take time to get it right. I have no idea what that means."

"Still something to look forward to." Alicia's face grew serious. "Umbridge has been relentless lately. Did you see Lee Jordan the other day?"

Katie and Angelina grimaced. "Yeah," Katie whispered, "You'd think he would've learnt to keep his head down and his mouth shut the last time. I hope lots of people are plotting against her."

 

~

 

They watched in fascination as she turned mossy green and bumpy warts popped up all over her skin. Her _hmm hmm's_ were low, groaning croaks, and when she opened her mouth to scream at them, rather than assigning lines or detention, all she said was, "Quidditch."

Silence followed. No one dared move or speak. Well, no one except Fred.

He looked at her like he didn't notice her toady transformation. "What's that, Professor?"

"Quidditch!"

Fred nodded, and glanced at his brother. "George?"

"Yes, Fred"

"Our Defence instructor—"

"–is a toad?"

"Well, no, technically—" "

"She's just a half—"

She pulled them apart before George could finish Fred's thought and dragged them up to the front of the classroom. The seventh years tried not to laugh because no one wanted detention; although, the sight of her all warty and green was hilarious.

Determined not to speak again, she gestured to the twins, letting them know she believed them responsible for her current state, trying to relay that they should fix it immediately.

They just stared as if they didn't understand her until she grew frustrated. She waved her wand at them as she screamed, "Quidditch! Quidditch! Quidditch!"

Fred met her eyes, expression full of false concern. "You've said that, Professor. Never knew you liked the game so much. What do you like most about Quidditch?"

"Blagging, Flacking, Blatching!"

At that, the class burst out laughing and Umbridge's green skin took on a pink tinge. It really wasn't a good look. Angelina wiped tears from her eyes, and snorted while trying not to belly laugh.

"Are you sure, Professor?" Fred asked. "Wouldn't have thought a proper witch like you would enjoy fouls."

Umbridge narrowed her eyes and mumbled, "Quidditch," before she stormed out of the room, presumably on her to the Infirmary. The students didn't try to hide their happiness, dismissing themselves and calling it a day.

Back in the common room, while everyone was sharing what had happened with the other years, Alicia called out to Fred, "How'd you do it?"

"Wouldn't you lot like to know?"

George waved him off and said, "It was a combination of Wheeze items that will be available to the public in the near future."

Fred walked over to Angelina and said, "I trust that met your approval, Johnson. That one was for you and the team. We've got one more planned that will be for all of Gryffindor."

Angelina was feeling more joyful than she had since before the Hufflepuff game. Umbridge had been taking more and more of their freedoms away. She couldn't even use the Prefects' bath anymore. It was about time they got one over on her. "Well done, Weasleys! Old Toady never looked better. Hope those warts linger."

"Oh, they'll be there until Pomfrey figures out that we used a potion instead of a hex. Maybe Snape won't clue them in. He'll suspect for sure."

"Can't you just imagine her covered in wart plasters?"

"Nothing more than she deserves," Fred added, "Thought she might like to be a half-breed for a bit, seeing as she's so obsessed with using that name for Hagrid and Firenze."

George grinned and slapped Fred on the back. "You're wickedly evil when you want to be, little brother."

Fred turned to Angelina aghast. "Blimey! I can't believe he tells such lies. Everyone knows he's the younger one!" Fred's eyes filled with mischief, and as he leaned forward, he said, "Now, fair Angelina… how about a kiss for the hero of the day?"

Angelina rolled her eyes. He tried too hard. "Fair enough," she said as she leaned in toward Fred, but at the last minute, she turned her head and kissed George's cheek. She wasn't sure which Weasley was more confused, but she was too happy to worry over those two.

She pulled away and made her way through the crowd over to Alicia and Katie. She could see from Alicia and Katie's expressions that they wanted to know why she'd kissed George, but that was her secret to tell, when she was ready.

 

~

 

Angelina was utterly exhausted. She looked over at Alicia and Katie and smiled. They really were the best mates. They'd skipped out early on the party and followed her up to the dorm, so they could spend a quiet, well quieter, night with her.

In truth, they were all exhausted. The singing had been going on for hours. Enough was enough, really. It was starting to be a bit much. Angelina rubbed her temples and said, "I'm happy for Weasley, but you'd think they'd have settled down by now. He finally did his job and they act like he's the first person to ever play Keeper."

"Budge up," Katie said, waiting for Angelina to make room for her before continuing, "At least there's hope for next year. I wish Fred and George were here tonight. The party didn't feel the same without them."

"True. But we won and we did it without Potter or the twins. I still can't believe it." Angelina said, finally relaxing.

When another round of "Weasley is our King" started up, Katie bit her lip not wanting to laugh at Angelina's strained expression. Alicia noticed too and said, "Yeah, I'm so chuffed we won the Cup. Angelina, we couldn't have done it without you and all those practices."

"Not to mention all of Weasley's extra practices!" Katie added. They'd all nearly fell behind in classes trying to train Weasley up. He'd never be Wood, but they'd made certain that he could play with confidence.

"No lie! My callouses have callouses," Alicia grumbled, "but I'm ready for League tryouts." Alicia grinned when Angelina carefully glanced down at her hands too.

Angelina looked up and said, "You earned them. You did us proud, and you know, it feels right. Feels like we can really leave school. Like we've done what we should by Gryffindor."

Katie punched Angelina's arm. "What about me? I'm going to be all alone next year, and I'm gonna have to play with new Chasers! I'm going to have to _find_ new Chasers! Oh Merlin, someone else is going to be Captain. I refuse." She fell back onto Angelina's pillow and moaned, covering her eyes.

Angelina laughed. She was relieved that the idea of being Captain was as stressful to Katie as she'd found it to be. "What? You not keen on spending your last year ranting and chasing down schoolboys when they don't show up to practice?"

"No thanks, I vote that next year we elect a boy just to teach him a lesson!"

Angelina grew serious. "Just see to it that the girls don't go back to being called 'men' or 'lads'. I'd hate to have to come back here and kick your arse."

Katie sat up and smiled, taking Angelina's hand. "Never fear, oh great leader. Next year, I'll coach Ginny and then share those same sweet words with her before I leave."

Angelina nudged Katie off the bed. "See that you do, Bell."

"Hey! What was that for?"

Angelina grinned. "You've got to go down there and make them quit singing. I'm tired, and now, I have to worry about N.E.W.Ts. Creating a 'King' is exhausting business. Make them stop, Katie, and I'll give you all my Chocolate Frogs."

Katie moved over to Alicia's bed, and grumbled, "You go tell them to shut it."

"I've yelled enough." Angelina sighed, lying back and pulling her pillow over her head.

Alicia and Katie burst into giggles, making Angelina sit up and glare. "It wasn't that funny. I wasn't _that_ bad."

Katie stood and walked over to the door as she said, "Right. You weren't that bad at all. I'm just going to go down there and tell them that if they don't shut it that you're coming down. Who wants to bet that when I come back up, you'll both be able to hear that squeaky step that no one hears except in the dead of night? Any takers? Angelina?"

"Fine. I was a bear." Angelina grinned. "But we won! We won the Cup and somehow, we made Weasley into a King. If we can manage that, then we can do anything."


End file.
